The Top 10 Things I Learned from the FPRA Social Media Cafe'

I attended the FPRA Social Media Cafe' Last Friday and learned some really cool things about social media! I swear I've heard some of these things before, but I guess I just need to keep pounding them into my brain to make them functional!

Here's my Top 10 List! Enjoy!

1. You press releases should have key words that link back to your site – keywords that would come up in a Google search. (Got this one down with the Million Dollar Coupon campaign!)

2. You can search www.twitter.com with a # symbol in front of the word you are looking for.

3. You can use www.Tweetlater.com to schedule your tweets. How cool is that?

4. www.socialmention.com – monitors blogs and sends you alerts.

5. www.StartPR.com – monitors Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and blogs. Try it!

6. Social media clubs are the wave of the future. To find one in your area, visit www.socialmediaclub.org.

7. You should use Twitter to link back to your site. (Whew! Already doing this one!)

8. You can use www.ping.fm and www.posterous.com for cross-posting! Way cool!

9. Online Newsrooms are not just for news releases and media kits -- you should also have video and photos...and links to your blogs, YouTube channel and Twitter and Facebook accounts.

10. Also, online newsrooms should have their own dedicated web address. The most common is www.news.YourCompanyName.com.

There you have it! Hope this helps!

Best Marketing Stunt

Best Marketing Stunt. That's what Florida Weekly called the Million Dollar Coupon! Wow! What an unexpected surprise! I'm giddy! How fun! Thank you, Florida Weekly editors! I'm so glad I was a part of it! Check out the rest of Florida Weekly's BEST rankings!

Since we're talking about the Million Dollar Coupon, I am honored to say I have signed a new client for a very touching, exciting campaign to be revealed in the near future! This client is truly a gift -- a result of my hard work on the Million Dollar Coupon campaign. How lucky am I? I look forward to helping this new client, who is on a mission to serve others! Stay tuned for more details!

The Website is Live

Look out world! Here comes Master Life Coach Lynne Pietrzyk! Her website is now live! I am so proud of her -- she did it herself! Check it out: www.shiftandwakeup.com.

It is definitely a work in progress -- we have so much we want to do with the site. But we decided to let it go live with just some basic information and view it as a work in progress. We will be continually updating and improving the online experience for our audiences.

We used what we learned by reading David Meerman Scott's The New Rules of Marketing & PR and created buyer persona's. Lynne has three primary buyer persona's -- the working mom, the stay-at-home mom and the step-mom.

Interestingly enough -- Lynne has been all three of these moms at one point in her life. She is two of the three right now! She can really identify with what all moms are going through.

Each of those moms has a page on Lynne's site. In the future we will add relevant articles to target those moms and let them see how Lynne can help them solve their problems. We hope it will be a place moms can come to receive support and comfort.

We hope you'll check it out! You can also visit her on Facebook at: http://facebook.dj/shiftandwakeup/

Looking forward to FPRA's Social Media Cafe'

Ever since reading David Meerman Scott's The New Rules of Marketing & PR, I've been dangling my toes deeper into the social media waters.

Obviously, I learned VERY quickly how well it works with the Million Dollar Coupon campaign, but there is SO much more to be learned.

Thanks to FPRA's Southwest Florida Chapter, I'll be attending the Social Media Cafe' Second Course on Friday. It's a day-long social media professional development seminar that costs only $25 for FPRA members and $50 for FPRA non-members. Seriously, you can't go wrong! I won't go into detail about what will be covered, but you can view the schedule here.

The first course was held in May. It was only a half-day -- but what a GREAT half-day it was! I learned so much I could hardly stand it! Can't wait for this Friday!

I'll be sure to post some of what I learn!

Coach Lynne Using Social Media

I've always said I like working with the "big idea" people. Lucky for me, Master Life Coach Lynne Pietrzyk is one of those people! In order to pump up her life coaching business, she is reaching out and providing free services to connect with potential clients.

One of her main tools is a book club that focuses on David Essel's Slow Down: The Fastest Way to get Everything You Want. This book club allows her to show off her coaching skills while providing a free self-help service to the community.

On the social media side of things, she has her Facebook page up and running, we are finishing up her blog and website, and she's already started an online live radio talk show. Have you ever heard of BlogTalk Radio? I hadn't either until I met this "big idea" woman!

You should check it out. The next program is tonight at 6:30 p.m. It will only last 15 minutes. Log on to www.blogtalkradio.com/Coach-Lynne or call in to (646) 595-3904. Tonight's focus is on summertime! She is going to discuss the excitement parents and children feel about the end of another school year and how the summertime gives parents the opportunity to create new positive habits in their family life. I'll be listening! Will you?

Wow! The Million Dollar Coupon Man, Rich Ricciani appeared on Neal Cavuto's Our World today on Fox News!

Here's the link to the video: http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=011008&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=5945300&referralPlaylistId=playlist

Between this and the story in the L.A. Times, I'm floored at the excitement behind this man's GREAT idea!

I am honored to have been a part of the campaign!

Many, many thanks to the brilliance of David Meerman Scott. It was through reading his book, The New Rules of Marketing & PR, that I learned how to give this campaign legs! I keep finding new media clips every day!

Let the phones ring!

The LA Times wrote about the Million Dollar Coupon!!!

Check it out: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-coupon9-2009jun09,0,5552091.story

2 p.m. update.....

Just found out the story landed on the front page of Florida Trend's website: www.floridatrend.com

My client received a call from FOX News in NY! He's doing a live interview tomorrow at 4 p.m.! WAHOO!

The Buzz Goes On!

The Huffington Post covered the Million Dollar Coupon Story!

View the link!

Happy Sunday!

David Meerman Scott Writes About The Million Dollar Coupon

Check this out! Marketing and PR guru David Meerman Scott wrote about the Million Dollar Coupon campaign on his blog!

www.webinknow.com!

What an honor! I am so excited!

Many kudos to Rich and Lani for their creative thinking!

Now all we need is a buyer!

The Million Dollar Coupon

The Million Dollar Coupon

Wow! What a rush! Here's the story!

Fort Myers homeowner Rich Ricciani approached me with a "crazy PR idea" to run a coupon for $1 million dollars off the price of his $7 million home. My first thought was, "Hmmm...I'm not exactly a "crazy PR" kind of a woman. But, I honored his call and went to visit him at his home. Wow. I was impressed.

Mr. Ricciani wanted to create "buzz" for the home on the Internet. This was in lieu of simply reducing the price of the home on the MLS -- that alone simply would not have created the awareness of his home being for sale. He thought it was a unique idea that just might work! I agreed, so off we went to coordinate with the Realtor.

I worked on the PR plan while the Realtor placed the ads. The $1 million coupon ad first ran in our local paper on May 31, and will run this Sunday in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe (because Ft. Myers is the home of the Boston Red Sox Spring Training facility -- many of their fans know the area well).

I sent out the release via the PRweb Media Visibility package and took full advantage of all of their SEO tools based on what I learned from reading The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott. I also used www.prmatchpoint.com to compile a list of real estate writers in the south and northeastern U.S. I also personally targeted the big news outlets, such as CNN, Fox, NBC and more.

I added the story to www.digg.com and ireport on CNN. I've been tweeting headlines and continue to search for reporters to cover the story.

In 4 days on PRweb, their statistics say the release has been read more than 1,600 times -- around the globe! Headline impressions are over 88,000!

The story appeared front page in our local paper, The Fort Myers News-Press on May 31. It also aired on one of our local television stations, WINK-TV on June 1.

It is populating around the web in real estate blogs galore! Some people love the marketing tactic of a coupon, some hate it and call it a gimmick. Overall, the idea is being received very well! It has been very exciting and energizing!

Just last night we found it on the AOL news page. The homeowner uses AOL and was VERY excited to see it there! (Thanks, PRweb!)

Here are some links for you to check out:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/million_dollar_coupon/real_estate/prweb2447044.htm

http://realestate.aol.com/home-prices/home-selling-incentives?pg=2

http://www.1210gasparilladr.com/ -- this is the site the Realtor created for the listing

www.themilliondollarcoupn.com -- this is the site for the coupon

Will keep you posted!